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Romans 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
What would it be like to always have a strong person on call when you needed them? What would it be like if they always turned up just as you needed them?
We all do need support at some time in our lives, and the more we are able to do the more we are actually able to do for others too.
Life is not all about pleasing yourself as much as possible, but being there for others so they too can have a great life – share your burdens and share in someone else’s burdens too.
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Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Stop and ask yourself – why am I actually doing this? Is it to make myself feel good, to make someone else feel good, to make myself look good?
We do not need to prove anything to God or to man. What we need to do is to listen to God and fill the needs of His people – that is God’s wish.
Our lot is not to be popular because we do things and call them Christian or charitable or nice; our lot is to be willing and able to do the will of God which will fulfil many of the above without taking the glory from God!
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Acts 20:19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.
Sometimes you will find opposition from the very people you are trying to reach out to with the gospel; it seems to be the norm nowadays.
Don’t be put off by people around you who are trying to make a name for themselves or others who just need to have their own way – listen to God and follow His will.
Listening to God means stopping what you are reacting to, waiting to hear from Him, and then putting that into action in the way He is telling you to.
Don’t do it because it will make you look better, do it because God is asking!
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Acts 20:31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
How passionate are you about teaching or telling people about Jesus?
I know some people are put off by people who are too passionate about things, but by in large, we do believe the people who are most passionate about their work, study or beliefs.
We do not have too many records about how passionate Jesus was in His teaching, but we do have enough to know His passion for teaching people the truth abounded – He made a big difference.
Will you?
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Acts 20:20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.
Paul did not hold back his teaching others whether he got into trouble or not; he knew he was doing exactly what God had asked him to do.
When we take on a task from God, we should be willing to fulfil it no matter what the odds and no matter what the opposition!
This does mean being willing to go the extra step when asked to by God, willing to take on that extra care, willing to speak out when others will not, willing to listen and obey.
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Acts 5:42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
Did the punishment and suffering stop them from telling people about Jesus? No! They went out all the more to tell people the good news about the Messiah.
Sometimes it is not the people who thank you or say you are doing the right thing which make the biggest difference…
Sometimes it is the people who object that allow you to see how much of a difference you are making to your community.
Don’t be put off by opposition; take it on board.
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Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
After Jesus had told the disciples they would probably have to suffer because they were telling people the truth about God, they were prepared and got on with the task in hand.
When they were pulled in for telling people Jesus was the Messiah, they came out of their situation talking with each other and rejoicing about what they had been through.
Why? Because they knew they had reached people with the truth, they were rebelling and objecting about the truth being uncovered!
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1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
It is not always nice to be told you should be happy with the suffering you may be going through! But take a minute to think about how much Jesus went through, just because He loves you.
Suffering on this earth is going to be nothing in comparison to the joy and glory we shall have in Heaven!
The joy of what will be in heaven is also going to be even more enjoyable when we do face hardships and sufferings
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Philippians 1:28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.
Your faith is something which is on show in your life without you realising just how much it affects other people.
Having the strength to say no to the things in your life which you know are not from God is your faith on show!
We should always remember that Christ has won the war against the evil one, but we face many daily battles in which we still have to stand up and fight with Christ by our side.
Allow the people around you to see you are not afraid to stand up with Christ!
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1 Timothy 3:3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
The apostle writes down some good advice to people wanting to be in overseer positions within the church; some may say bishops.
In reality, we are all in an overseer position within the church. Some of us may not be overseeing much, but God has entrusted us with the people around us!
Being a good example to the people around us is paramount in trying to show them a new life in Christ.
This does not mean taking the fun out of life or the church, but being respectful and not doing things in excess.
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1 Timothy 5:23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
Do you do things in excess? How often do you allow yourself to do things in excess?
God has always tried to encourage mankind to take car of our bodies and not to do things in excess; rather we should be doing more but never in excess.
Our bodies are complex systems which need regular nutrients to balance what they can do – having a little wine or other foods we think of as being bad is sometimes good for us.
Nowadays we have a daily recommended amount for many things which is given to us by scientists and doctors – following such advice is actually good for the body and hence good for the soul; it makes you feel better!
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Acts 27:34 Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”
How many times have you actually depended on God and allow Him to do things in your life – and how many times have you ‘helped’ Him along the way by doing things you would expect God to do?
We all do like to think we know what God wants and do things we think He should do. And when things go wrong we get ourselves in a pickle and stop doing anything in case we get something else wrong.
That is not really allowing God to work in our lives. We need to look after our physical bodies so God can work with us and help us do the right thing.
Work with God and not against Him!
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Matthew 10:30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Have you ever read through your bible and wondered why they said the things they did back then? I challenge you to look at any passage and then try and find links back to the Old Testament.
This would have been a scholastic challenge a few years ago, but the internet has any online tools to help you out.
People would say that “not a hair on their head” would be pulled out or damaged to signify how nobody was allowed to do harm to others back in the Old Testament.
God continues to know exactly how many hairs are on our heads – because He loves every aspect of us and wants us to be safe from every eventuality!
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1 King 1:52 Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.”
Adonijah set himself up to be king, thinking he had the birth-right to do so because David was getting old and ready to retire.
David only heard of this through Nathan and Bathsheba! But as soon as he did, he got together the right people and dedicated Solomon as the next and rightful King.
No matter how far you go, how much you get it wrong, when you are faced with the truth like Adonijah was, stop and admit your mistake and ask forgiveness.
God is willing to forgive anything so long as we do come to ask for that forgiveness – just like Adonijah did in front of a very wise King Solomon.
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Ephesians 5:33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
When God says we should give up everything for the church, He does not mean giving up on the core things which He shows us – love.
To do Gods work effectively means being able to love those around you just as much as you love God and yourself.
If we do not extend the same full and effectual love toward those around us, people will ask how we can say one thing and do another.
Jesus showed love to family, friends, church and community; a full and effectual love!
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Ephesians 5:30 for we are members of his body.
The more we depend on the people around us in mutual living arrangements, the closer we become as a community and the easier we find things get.
If we all do work together we find things work out quicker and very often cheaper too – which I like!
God wants us to be as a single body – the church as one body, working together, supporting each other, depending on each other.
Selfishness, pride, greed and lust break apart communities and groups of people quicker than anything else – and they go as far as causing wars and obliterating communities!
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Ephesians 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body.
Living in close proximity to lots of people tends to give you a different look on life to living out in the country.
When you are one of very few people you tend to try and get on with everyone to make life a bit easier to live. But living with many people bring out distrust and all manner of other bad sides!
God wants us to be able to live with hope and love and in communion with the people close to us; that means putting aside lies and distrust and living like our lives depend on each other.
God wants that sort of close relationship with us even more!
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Galatians 6:15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.
How many people go to the local church? Do you go to the local church?
The apostle writes here to the people of Galatia, telling them not to get all tied up about religious laws but to focus on Christ instead!
When we start comparing things in worldly ways we get caught up in those worldly comparisons and lose sight of the real object of our worship; Jesus Christ.
When I go to be part of our local church service, I go to do the best I can to give people the best opportunity to be blessed by God through the service.
It’s not all about where you go, but how you go…
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Romans 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Whilst we should know the scriptures and understand what is written, we are no longer bound by the ancient laws of Moses as they were written for times past.
We are now bound by what Christ has done for us and what that means to us; God knew we would not be capable of keeping the laws – but we had to understand that first!
Live with Christ. Live for Christ. Thank Christ!
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Romans 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh
No matter how good we make the laws of the land, they are only as good as the people who keep them. There will seemingly be flaws in all our laws because we are not able to keep them.
Not so with God’s Laws. Jesus was able to keep them all, the uphold them and the recount them; it is mankind who got it all wrong again.
But God does not hold it against us because Jesus, who actually kept all the laws, gave His life for us, the ones who actually break the laws!